Live Auction 20001Post-War & Contemporary Art Day Sale
ELAINE DE KOONING (1918-1989)
Lot 108 Property of an Important Private Collector

ELAINE DE KOONING (1918-1989)

Charging Bull

Closed14 May 2021

Price Realised

USD 437,500

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ELAINE DE KOONING (1918-1989)
Charging Bull
signed with the artist's initials 'E. de K.' (lower right)
oil on Masonite
23 ½ x 28 ½ in. (60 x 72.4 cm.)
Painted in 1959.

Graham Gallery, New York
Stephen Cabot Barnes Harvey, San Francisco
Private collection
Anon. sale; Sotheby's, New York, 6 October 2005, lot 38
Private collection
Acquired from the above by the present owner

Specialist note

"For others, the bull, the center of the conflict, would be the image of darkness overcome by the forces of light. For [de Kooning], the bull is the hero. And sometimes the bull does win and need never burst, with tiny-ankled feet, into the arena again."
—(L. Campbell, "Elaine de Kooning Paints a Picture," ARTnews, no. 59, vol. 8, December 1960, p. 40)